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What makes a holiday film, play or TV show a classic? For many, it's because watching it brings back fond memories of holidays past. For some, it's because the film offers an important message for the season. And there are those who just like spending the holidays with the Family, as in the Corleones. We surveyed notable Chicagoans and visiting artists to ask them the holiday programs they turn to each year to get in the season's spirit. Here are their answers. John McDonough (Chicago Blackhawks president/CEO): "'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation' is a hilarious depiction of what can and does happen during the holidays." Julia Stasch...

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What makes a holiday film, play or TV show a classic? For many, it's because watching it brings back fond memories of holidays past. For some, it's because the film offers an important message for the season. And there are those who just like spending the...

"Illumination" at the Morton ArboretumYou'll never be so happy that night falls early as when you're at Morton Arboretum's dazzling and inventive winter light show, which returns after last year's triumphant debut. So much more than an...

Chicago kicked off Thursday's turkey day festivities with the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade at Congress Parkway and State Street.
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The bespectacled man, a cigar in his mouth, floats in an aqua blue swimming pool atop a yellow air mattress. The sun worshipper holds a newspaper with a prominent headline: "Blizzard hits East"
The cover art from Palm Springs Life magazine...

The Palatine Park District will present a free showing of the 1946 classic holiday film “It’s A Wonderful Life” on Friday, December 6. The film will be shown at 7:00pm at Cutting Hall Performing Arts Center, 150 E. Wood Street, Palatine, preceded by...

"The Radio City Christmas Spectacular": The Rockettes have entered the digital age — their show now features a 50-foot LED screen and even more fabulous visual effects. But the greatest effect of all remains the high kickers themselves,...

While it's true that there's only so much anyone can say about the Oscars, remember it can be said again and again. As a reader (and writer), I know by now that there are 10 abiding Oscar stories. Here they are, all in a single article:
The history
...

They showed up at Rod Blagojevich's home before the sun.
By daylight, federal agents had arrested and handcuffed the governor, throwing him -- and all of Illinois -- into one of the most momentous and absurd times in the state's sordid political...

Rod Blagojevich is cracking jokes as he prepares to go on national television to plug his new book and once again defend himself against the widespread corruption charges that led to his political ruin.
Everything about this nine-month stretch leading up...

Taking his media blitz national Monday in New York, hundreds of miles from the start of his impeachment proceedings in Springfield, embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich continued to portray himself as Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to...

It's beginning to look more than a little like Christmas, and for many of us, the season wouldn't be complete without watching at least a few scenes from "It's a Wonderful Life." The movie wasn't a box-office hit when it was first released...

Mince pies, Christmas crackers, all those "Keep Calm and Jingle On" T-shirts — and now television.
This year, Americans can celebrate a very British Christmas without leaving their homes, much less braving Heathrow at the holidays.
In the...

Hollywood has arguably never had such a remarkable year as 1939. The studios released some of its most popular and accomplished films, including the best picture Oscar winner "Gone With the Wind," the beloved musical fantasy "The Wizard...

Diva Rule No. 1: Know how to make a big entrance. Diva Rule No. 2: Know how to make a big exit.
Diva Rule No. 3: Do these things as often as humanly possible.
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Nothing unites the people of the Internet quite like hatin' on something together. So the press release Monday afternoon announcing a sequel to the beloved holiday classic "It's a Wonderful Life" was met with the sort of overwhelming derision...

The holiday season, which is mostly to say the Christmas season, has already begun on television; indeed, if you measure the holiday by Hallmark Channel or Lifetime, it has been going on all month. And it's not going to get any less cheery and joyful...

A marvelous mash-up of Old West and newfangled, "Rango" rewrites the animation playbook with its eye-popping critters and varmints, and its hero's tale (tail?) of a chameleon desperate for a SAG card and a town desperate for a sheriff. What fun....